We provide game reviews, news, impressions, opinion pieces, and release date details on upcoming video-games for current, mobile, and past-gen platforms.
Remember to Have Fun, Be Nice, and Think before you type!

Slender: The Arrival was initially released in 2013 for PC, with Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions made one year later, and now the horror title has made its way to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. This review is based of off the PS4 version of the game, which I have spent the past few days exploring. The horror genre has been expanding with big action releases such as The Evil Within, and smaller independent titles like Five Night’s at Freddy’s. Does the tall, thin man still have what it takes to give some spooks out? To me, the answer is yes, more or less yes, he does.

As you begin the title as the silent female protagonist name Lauren, you’re placed right outside your vehicle armed only with a video camera, which also allows you to view the time you’ve spent in the game. There is a distinct path towards your goal, which is to investigate Kate’s house, the name of Lauren’s friend who has gone missing. The environment is nice, with trees swaying and leaves falling, although the visual difference from the 360 version I played last year isn't that substantial.

In reality though, you’re not playing this for its graphics, but they are nice and cleanly detailed – a nice backdrop to the more impacting audio where the tension and scares are truly placed as you explore the areas in the game.

The basics of The Arrival’s gameplay is exploration, clue collecting, and running from danger. Your flashlight isn’t used to bash anything around, but to better find clues to Kate’s disappearance. There is also stamina in place, so Lauren won’t be able to instantly take off after short spurts of dashing from danger, which adds to the overall fear factor.

Headphones for this game are definitely a must if you want to immerse yourself and get your racing a bit more, and bring the scares in more closely, especially since Slender Man’s pattern will change throughout the roughly two hour adventure.

Recent Reviews

The Slender Man has seen his fair share of success as he continues to scare curious gamers willing to try a new type of horror title. Games like the Arrival are tailored for a specific audience, so if small horror experiences are your go-to games, you can do a lot worse than this title. It may not be a reason to upgrade to a new console, but it's interesting enough to warrant a download if you've never played it in its previous forms on past-gen consoles and PC.

+ Engaging story and tense atmosphere

+ Slender Man encounters keep you in 'jump scare' mode

Reviews on the thebuttonpresser.com are based out of a '1-5 controller' Scoring system. Purchased games by the reviewer contain no annotation, but review copies are always known to the reader via a review disclaimer.

Popular Articles

Site Archive

About

The Button Presser provides game reviews, news, impressions, opinion pieces, and release date details on upcoming video-games for current, mobile, and next-gen platforms.
Remember to Have Fun, Be Nice, and Think before you type!